Antimicrobial sensitivity pattern from clinical isolates at a tertiary care teaching hospital of rural Bengal: a pilot study

Background: Antimicrobial sensitivity pattern from clinical isolates can reveal important information that can help in drafting the hospital antibiotic policy as well as help improve prescribing patterns and patient outcome in a particular region.Methods: Data from the results of the antimicrobial sensitivity pattern of clinical isolates of the patients between 1stJuly and 31st December 2018 were collected on a pre-designed and pre tested case study form and analysed with the help of descriptive statistics.Results: A total of 75 blood culture reports were obtained which showed 58 gram positive cultures. Further 46 of the gram positive samples were positive for Coagulase negative Staphylococcus. A total of 305 urine samples were obtained for culture which showed gram negative cultures. Paediatric and medicine wards were the common yielding sites. A total of 242 pus reports were obtained which showed 47 gram positive cultures. A total of 154 wound swab samples were obtained which showed 47 gram positive cultures. For pus and wound swab samples, surgery wards were the common yielding sites. Common gram negative organisms seen were Klebsiella sp., E. coli, Citrobacter sp., Pseudomonas, Proteus and Enterobacter. Gram positive organisms were commonly resistant to Erythromycin, orally active Penicillins, Vancomycin and Teicoplanin and gram negative organisms were commonly resistant to Cephalosporins, Aminoglycosides, Colistin, Fluroquinolones and Meropenem.Conclusions: This study showed that over six months samples of body pus, wound swab, blood culture and urine showed high levels of resistance to commonly used antibiotics. This would provide an outline for development of an effective hospital Infection Control Policy

Rapid immunochromatographic test: An evolving tool for diagnosis of scrub typhus

Background: Scrub typhus is prevalent in many districts of South Bengal throughout the year where an average temperature of 20–35°C, which contributes to the spread of Leptotrombidium deliense. However, its diagnosis remains complicated by the lack of readily available and validated assays, the non-specificity of clinical symptoms on admission, and even non-availability of the pathognomonic eschar in most of the cases. Aims and Objectives: This study was carried out to evaluate the rapid immunochromatographic test (RICT) for early detection of scrub typhus for using it as an early diagnostic tool at the field level. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study in which 181 serum samples from clinically suspected cases (after excluding dengue, malaria, Japanese encephalitis, and typhoid fever) collected over 13 months were processed for the detection of immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies for scrub typhus by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and rapid test. Results: Considering IgM ELISA for scrub typhus as the gold standard, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value for RICT were found to be 100%, 86.87%, 50%, and 100%, respectively. Conclusion: RICT is a simple, rapid, and reliable assay for diagnosis of scrub typhus, capable of providing accurate results quickly and is highly suitable for field deployment in remote areas with limited medical support

Microfilaria in pleural effusion: An unusual association

Lymphatic filariasis is a major public health problem in tropical countries and India is endemic for it. However, lymphatic filariasis presenting as pleural effusion is an unusual manifestation and finding microfilaria in pleural effusion without any lung pathology is rare. We report a case of pleural effusion without any underlying lung pathology and normal blood picture. Clinical cure occurred after treatment with diethyl-carbamazepine. Filariasis should be kept in view while considering the differential diagnosis of idiopathic pleural effusion, especially in endemic countries

A Rare Case of Pancreatic Abscess due to Candida Tropicalis

Candida albicans is found frequently as a commensal organism in the gastrointestinal tract. Despite this, it is rarely found in pancreatic abscesses, there being only a few cases in the literature and in most of these cases the significance of Candida spp. as a pathogen was not initially recognized at the time of diagnosis. In most of the earlier reported pancreatitis associated with candida, C. albicans was the commonest isolate. We report the case of a patient in whom computed tomography was used initially to diagnose a pancreatic abscess, aspiration of which showed growth of Candida tropicalis and Escherichia coli on culture. The patient was started on amphotericin B and imipenem, but the condition of the patient deteriorated, for which the patient underwent surgical necrosectomy and continued treatment with imipenem and amphotericin B led to the satisfactory recovery of the patient

Pharmacoinformatics and UPLC-QTOF/ESI-MS-based phytochemical screening of combretum indicum against oxidative stress and alloxan-induced diabetes in Long-Evans Rats

This research investigated a UPLC-QTOF/ESI-MS-based phytochemical profiling of Combretum indicum leaf extract (CILEx), and explored its in vitro antioxidant and in vivo antidiabetic effects in a Long-Evans rat model. After a one-week intervention, the animals' blood glucose, lipid profile, and pancreatic architectures were evaluated. UPLC-QTOF/ESI-MS fragmentation of CILEx and its eight docking-guided compounds were further dissected to evaluate their roles using bioinformatics-based network pharmacological tools. Results showed a very promising antioxidative effect of CILEx. Both doses of CILEx were found to significantly (p < 0.05) reduce blood glucose, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and total cholesterol (TC), and increase high-density lipoprotein (HDL). Pancreatic tissue architectures were much improved compared to the diabetic control group. A computational approach revealed that schizonepetoside E, melianol, leucodelphinidin, and arbutin were highly suitable for further therapeutic assessment. Arbutin, in a Gene Ontology and PPI network study, evolved as the most prospective constituent for 203 target proteins of 48 KEGG pathways regulating immune modulation and insulin secretion to control diabetes. The fragmentation mechanisms of the compounds are consistent with the obtained effects for CILEx. Results show that the natural compounds from CILEx could exert potential antidiabetic effects through in vivo and computational study

An association study of severity of intellectual disability with peripheral biomarkers of disabled children in a rehabilitation home, Kolkata, India

International audienceThe current investigation has identified the biomarkers associated withseverity of disability and correlation among plethora of systemic,cellular and molecular parameters of intellectual disability (ID) in arehabilitation home. The background of study lies with the recentclinical evidences which identified complications in ID. Variousindicators from blood and peripheral system serve as potentialsurrogates for disability related changes in brain functions. IDsubjects (Male, age 10 ± 5 yrs, N = 45) were classified as mild,moderate and severe according to the severity of disability usingstandard psychometric analysis. Clinical parameters including stressbiomarkers, neurotransmitters, RBC morphology, expressions ofinflammatory proteins and neurotrophic factor were estimated from PBMC,RBC and serum. The lipid peroxidation of PBMC and RBC membranes, levelsof serum glutamate, serotonin, homocysteine, ROS, lactate and LDH-Aexpression increased significantly with severity of ID whereas changesin RBC membrane ?-actin, serum BDNF, TNF-? and IL-6 was found non-significant. Structural abnormalities of RBC were more in severelydisabled children compared to mildly affected ones. The oxidative stressremained a crucial factor with severity of disability. This is confirmednot only by RBC alterations but also with other cellular dysregulations.The present article extends unique insights of how severity ofdisability is correlated with various clinical, cellular and molecularmarkers of blood. This unique study primarily focuses on the strongpredictors of severity of disability and their associations via brain-blood axis

Reduced phosphorylation of Stat3 at Ser-727 mediated by casein kinase 2 — Protein phosphatase 2A enhances Stat3 Tyr-705 induced tumorigenic potential of glioma cells

Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (Stat3) is a transcription factor that is involved in cell survival and proliferation and has been found to be persistently activated inmost human cancers mainly through its phosphorylation at Tyr-705. However, the role and regulation of Stat3 Ser-727 phosphorylation in cancer cells have not been clearly evaluated. In our findings, correlation studies on the expression of CK2 and Stat3 Ser-727 phosphorylation levels in human glioma patient samples as well as rat orthotopic tumor model show a degree of negative correlation. Moreover, brain tumor cell lines were treated with various pharmacological inhibitors to inactivate the CK2 pathway. Here, increased Stat3 Ser-727 phosphorylation upon CK2 inhibition was observed. Overexpression of CK2 (α, α′ or β subunits) by transient transfection resulted in decreased Stat3 Ser-727 phosphorylation. Stat3 Tyr-705 residuewas conversely phosphorylated in similar situations. Interestingly, wefound PP2A, a protein phosphatase, to be amediator in the negative regulation of Stat3 Ser-727 phosphorylation by CK2. In vitro assays prove that Ser-727 phosphorylation of Stat3 affects the transcriptional activity of its downstream targets like SOCS3, bcl-xl and Cyclin D1. Stable cell lines constitutively expressing Stat3 S727A mutant showed increased survival, proliferation and invasionwhich are characteristics of a cancer cell. Rat tumor models generated with the Stat3 S727A mutant cell line formed more aggressive tumors when compared to the Stat3WT expressing stable cell line. Thus, in glioma, reduced Stat3 Ser-727 phosphorylation enhances tumorigenicity which may be regulated in part by CK2–PP2A pathwa